Civil unions legislation dies in Hawaii state House

State House leaders said a narrow majority of representatives would have voted for civil unions, but they decided to indefinitely postpone a decision on whether to grant gay and lesbian couples the same rights and benefits the state provides to married couples.

The state Senate last Friday passed a civil-unions bill that would give same-sex and heterosexual couples the same rights, benefits and responsibilities as marriage under state law. The state House had voted 33-17 last session for a civil-unions bill that only applied to same-sex couples. Support for the bill in the House slipped out of concern with taking another vote during an election year.

The state House today decided against moving out the civil unions bill for a full vote.By a voice vote, the House chose to postpone action on House Bill 444 indefinitely ... The move to postpone indefinitely was made by House Speaker Calvin Say ... [He] has stated that he only wanted to proceed if the measure is supported by 34 of 51 House members -- a two-thirds' majority that would be able to override a governor's veto.